Your valid home address is used to determine which NY State Senator Represents you.

Apt/Suite/Floor (Optional)

City *

State *

Postal Code *

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Send me alerts for this bill. I can unsubscribe at any time. Learn more.

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

S6461 (ACTIVE) - Details

S6461 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to the use of locomotive horns at private highway-rail grade crossings.

S6461 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

BILL NUMBER: S6461
SPONSOR: AMEDORE
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the railroad law, in relation to the
use of locomotive horns at private highway-rail grade crossings; and to
repeal section 53-b of such law relating to ringing bells and blowing
whistles at crossings
PURPOSE:
To allow locomotive engineers to use their discretion on deciding wheth-
er or not to sound locomotive horns as warnings at private highway-rail
grades crossings.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one of the bill repeals the current section 53-b of the Railroad
Law.
Section two creates a new section 53-b of the Railroad Law that provides
that, unless otherwise required by federal law or regulation, locomotive

engineers may sound warning horns at private highway-rail grade cross-
ings if, in the engineer's judgment, the sounding of the horn is appro-
priate in order to prevent imminent injury, death or property damage.
EXISTING LAW:
Current New York State law requires the sounding of locomotive horns at
any place where a railway crosses a travelled road or street at the same
level. This has been interpreted to include all private and public high-
way-rail grade crossings. Federal law already controls the sounding of
warning horns at public crossings. New York is one of only a few states
with the additional requirement for all private crossings.
JUSTIFICATION:
Over the last several years, New York's highway law has been interpreted
to mean that all trains must sound warning horns at all private and
public highway-rail grade crossings. This has led to loud, obtrusive
horns being sounded at all times of the day and night in areas where
there had previously been no warning horns sounded. This has created a
hardship on local residents in some rural areas, in particular, Montgom-
ery County.
This legislation would allow the locomotive engineer to use his or her
judgment as to whether or not the warning horn should be sounded. In
reality, many private crossings are rarely and sometimes never used
(especially in the middle of the night). The risk of trains actually
causing personal or property damage is very small. The locomotive engi-
neer may sound the horn if, in his or her judgment, it would be appro-
priate to warn people or animals in order to prevent injury or damage.
The bill would provide needed relief to the area residents who would no
longer be subjected to the very loud sounds of unnecessary locomotive
warning horns.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.

S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
6461
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
I N S E N A T E
June 12, 2019
___________
Introduced by Sen. AMEDORE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to amend the railroad law, in relation to the use of locomotive
horns at private highway-rail grade crossings; and to repeal section
53-b of such law relating to ringing bells and blowing whistles at
crossings
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Section 53-b of the railroad law is REPEALED and a new
section 53-b is added to read as follows:
§ 53-B. USE OF LOCOMOTIVE HORNS AT CROSSINGS. UNLESS OTHERWISE
REQUIRED BY FEDERAL LAW OR REGULATION, AT A PRIVATE HIGHWAY-RAIL GRADE
CROSSING, A LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEER MAY SOUND THE LOCOMOTIVE HORN TO PROVIDE
A WARNING TO ANIMALS, VEHICLE OPERATORS, PEDESTRIANS, TRESPASSERS OR
CREWS ON OTHER TRAINS IN AN EMERGENCY SITUATION IF, IN THE LOCOMOTIVE
ENGINEER'S SOLE JUDGMENT, SUCH ACTION IS APPROPRIATE IN ORDER TO PREVENT
IMMINENT INJURY, DEATH, OR PROPERTY DAMAGE.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13247-01-9

Comments

Open Legislation comments facilitate discussion of New York State legislation. All comments are subject to moderation. Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity or hate speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday.

By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.